The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for preparing dishes using recipe steps and cooking conditions coded as a computer program recipe executed by a kitchen top robotic cooking machine supplied with the required ingredients with minimal user intervention while adjusting recipe to tastes of the user.
A need exists for a cooking machine or apparatus that is able to provide good quality custom food to people who generally lack the capability and understanding to prepare healthy food dishes on their own or do not have the time for engaging in cooking activity on a regular basis. With the change in the human society and behavioral pattern over the last several decades ever increasing number of people lack cooking skills and are becoming more dependent on processed foods, paying dearly for cooking services as in a restaurant or suffer consequences of unhealthy eating habits. Recent surveys have also suggested that a fairly large proportion of population is now medically obese and at risk of several adverse health conditions due to inability to cook and consume traditional food on a regular basis. Such a robotic cooking machine apparatus is also helpful in a restaurant as a cooking aid to an experienced chef to impart consistency and quality with less supervision of unskilled employees such that the price of gourmet dishes served can be reduced making them affordable for many.
Some businesses have recognized these issues and have started healthy meal delivery programs such as disclosed in US. Pat Application 20090094121 by Mark et Al assignee Nutrisystem Fresh Inc. However these programs are preset, expensive and cannot be effectively customized for every individual and meals can be repetitive rendering them boring and unpalatable to an individual over time even though made with good consistency. There needs to be a way where people can actively participate in their own healthy nourishment and also enjoy the process without the requirement to invest time and effort to acquire very high levels of cooking skills or occupy their precious time on a daily basis that could be used for more productive activities.
Chapin has disclosed a method and apparatus for automated Chinese stir-fry cooking in U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,502, however the apparatus' disclosed cannot help general cooking which is more complicated than Chinese stir frying and usually needs multiple steps such as when cooking pasta it is necessary to first boil the pasta and then subsequent cooking with cheese and vegetables after draining the water and cooking in a different pot. U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,810 discloses another apparatus incorporating a carousal and a lid, however still unable to cook complex dishes requiring multiple steps in multiple vessels and hence need for human intervention. U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,617 discusses an automatic frying machine for Chinese dishes also not able to cook complex dishes more involved, same case as the industrial size frying machine placed on a commercial burner disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,864. An apparatus with multiple wok stations is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,950 more suited for a takeout restaurant and there is no means for doing varied cooking activity at multiple stations rather they are meant to fry similar Chinese dishes at multiple stations for increasing throughput. Serving and cleaning devices have been added to the cooking machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,645 and vending capability is added in U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,166, however still not suitable for more complex cooking in general.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,830 incorporates robotic chefs into the kitchen to replicate human chefs and U.S. Pat. No. 7,461,589 discloses a single cooking pot counter top cooking machine. Further U.S. Pat. No. 7,485,830 discloses an automatic cooking device with a single station capable to addition of various types of motions for cooking. All these cooking devices, machines and apparatus have been invented with only a single cooking mode such as frying, stir frying and at a single station and cannot be used for general cooking as pasta, curries etc which need multiple steps and preparation of semi cooked ingredient combinations prior to final mixing and cooking of the main dish. Also most of the prior art is designed for use in a commercial environment whereas it is under close observation which is not appropriate for home cooking and a more reliant device is needed.
A need therefore exists to provide a robotic cooking apparatus that is more flexible to allow cooking of dishes that need more than one station to prepare intermediate cooked components and involve multiple steps that may involve transfer of semi-cooked ingredients from individual stations to temporary storage, or between cooking stations effortlessly without the need for human intervention. In addition, there is a need for a method to be able to adjust a recipe to individual tastes, sensibilities and moods for longer term usability of such a device. Also there is a need to be able to observe, monitor and control such a device remotely using a wireless device or via intelligent networked system such as the internet safely.